Automatic sprinkler



- Re, 16,132 A. J. LOEPSINGER 7 AUTOMATIC SFRINKLER I 'Aug- 4, 1925.

original FiledMarch 1a. 31

. INVENTOR. flZfierZ Jloepxizyer ATTORNEYS Rei'ssued Aug. 4,. 1925.

UNITED, s r-Ares L LQEPSINGER, or PROVIDENCE, Rrronn iSLAND, ASSIGNOR 'ro GENERAL rIRE EXTINGUISHER COMPANY, on NEW YO K, N. Y.,A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.-

P TENT OFFICE.

AUTOMATIC sPRINxLER.

Original No. 1,464,622, dated'August 14, 1923, Serial No. 283,295, filed liiarch 18, 1919. Application for reissue filed February 3, 1925. SerialNo. 6,667.

1 To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT J. LoEPsINeEn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Providence, formerly f of tomatic' Sprinklers; and I do hereby 'declare the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanyingudrawing, forming'a part of the same, to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to automatic sprinklers of the type in which the characteristic feature is the employment for normally hold ingthe sprinkler closed of a frangible vessel containing a bursting charge which will fracture the vessel when heated to a predeterminedtemperature thereby opening the advantages of automatic sprinklers of thissprinkler and releasing the water from the sprinkler-system. Although" certain ofthe general type have long. been recognized, a

J satisfactory and commercially successful sprinkler has not been heretoforevproduced, because ofthe liability of premature fracture of the frangible vessel.

'The object of this invention is to pro duce an automatic sprinkler of this type rovided with a frangible vessel as a valve olding means for normally holding the sprinkler closed capable of confining the bursting charge in a reliable and positive manner until the temperature reaches a'pr'edetermined operating point.

Several cycles or modes of operation in which the bursting charge acts to-shatter its frangible vessel are known in the priorart, two/of which are disclosed in applicants Patents Nos. 1,290,602fand 1,290,762. Sealing of the frangible vessel or bulb. therein described'is best effected by a fusion of the relatively slender neck usually provided for that purpose. To accomplish this fusion requires the application of a degree of heat far in excess of the predetermined bursting temperature, and inasmuch as at this latter 1 temperature, the bursting charge, therein -described as a liquid, must entirely fill the bulb, thebody of the bulb must be kept at a temperature well below the operating point during sealing. This great temperature dif- Cranston, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Au-' ference ordinarily resultsin setting up internal stresses in the bulb due to expansion .and contraction that render the bulb liable -to premature fracture and unfit for use.

and having in addition certain other advan tages over any heretofore proposed. To'accomplish this, I form the frangible vessel from a material having such a low coefficient of expansion that said vessels are.

substantially free from internal cooling stresses or, in other words, are exothermic after sealing despite the severe treatment and requirements of the sealing process.

The material that I prefer to employ is fused quartz of the transparent form, usually called quartz glass, although the milky translucent form containing air cells, commonly known as fused silica, may be employed.

A vessel made from quartz is substantially free from internal cooling stresses even after sealing and well adapted to resist sudden changes in temperature, as well as shocks and vibration during use, without danger of cracking. The absence of cooling stresses also increases the ability of the frangible vessel to resist external forces, such for example, as are imposed upon it in consequence of the pressure in the sprinkler system. -When so employed the total stress in the material is the algebraic sumsof that due to cooling and to the external force imposed. 'When the former is absent it is clear that the entire ultimate strength of the materialris available for holdin the sprinkler closed and for reliably coni ining the bursting charge.

Quartz is also a comparatively good 0011- ductor of heat so that bulbsmade from it closely follow any rise of temperature due to the occurrence of a fire, and operate in a prompt and effective manner before the fire has gained much headway;-

Quartz also possesses a very considerable stren th, as a result of which bulbs made there 'rom can be made correspondingly thin thus producing a further gain in thermal sensitiveness. I

When installed in a dust ladened atmosphere sprinklers and other similar apparatus often become coated to suchan extent,

particularly if the dust particles possess the property of bonding when .moistened by water or other condensable liquid, that open-' ing on the occurrence of a fire is often seriously retarded and sometimes revented. hen quartz is employed this liability is greatly lessened because moisture does not readily condense on the surface of this material. '1 o In ordinarypractice, with the use of soldered link sprinklers, it has been found necessary to install so-calledhigh degree heads, when the heads are exposed to the direct rays of the sun, especially under skylights, in monitors, saw-tooth roofs and the like, in order to prevent accidental opehing due to radiant heat. In a majority of such cases the heat rays pass through glass before striking the sprinkler.

extent, and with but slight heating-o the bulb, all the rays that have previously been filtered through such a glass screen. That is to say, rays of radiant heat having once passed through a glass window or skylight have but little heating effect on a vessel formed from quartz. This property of quartz also becomes of importance in so called exposure hazards. Suppose, for ex; ample, that a building in close proximity to one containing automatic sprinklers is in 'fiames. The radiant heat passing through may As the the shattering action increases in effectiveness with the amount of gas in the vessel at the time of sealing.' As the space not occupied by the liquid determines the as volume, cooling of the body of the'vesse at the time of sealing and consequent contraction of the containedliquid beyond the point necessary for successful scaling is desirable. With quartz, this cooling may be carried to anydesired low temperature and a correspondingly sharp shattering action produced at the predetermined bursting temperature.

I have discovered that vessels made from quartz will pass, to a neat This desirable result is further enhanced by li uid, without measurably lessening the cu ical contents of the containing vessel.

solder to hold them normally closed, and

Heretofore all automatic sprinklers used J commercially have employed easily fusible their opening temperature has been determined by the physlc'al properties of the few alloys available for solder, rather than by the conditions of service. Alloys having melting points below approximately 164 F. have been found too weak and otherwise unreliable for the purpose, and in consequence so called, ordinary or low degrees rinklers, which constitute about 90% of the entire number in use have employed solders fusing at the temperature. mentioned, although de grees of heat considerably below this point are abnormal and indicate the presence of a fire. Inasmuch as a suflicient amount of gas to produce a satisfactory shattering 'action at any, desired low temperature may be sealed in-the bulb, as already explained, it is apparent that automatic sprinklers made inaccordance with my present invention may be set to operate at a temperature lower thanthe solder-link sprinklers, and but slightly above the normal of the locality Where they are installed and in consequencerelease an extinguishing medium upon the fire sooner than has heretofore been possible.

In cycles requiring the fracture-of the ves- 'sel by liquid pressure, as for example by the pressure exerted by carbon tetrachloride as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,290,602, already referred to, I have found that fracture does not occur at the moment of entire filling of the vessel by the contained liquid, but at a considerably higher temperature. Since the.

liquid expands with almost irresistible force, I

the vessel must increase 1n volume somewhat during the interval-between complete filling and final fracture. Two properties ordi narily operate to permit this increment of volume, viz: elasticity and thermal expansion. With quartz no noticeable increase oc-, curs from the latter cause, and as a result the length of interval between complete filling and final .fractureis much reduced. This is very desirable because, when entirely filled the walls of the vessel are under severe stress,

and unable to resist external force to the same extent as at lower temperatures.

Once sealed it is important that vessels of this character retain the desired predetermined bursting temperature. To ensure this the volume ofathe bulb must be unaffectedby repeated expansion and contraction over wide ran es of temperature during years ofservice. uartz bulbs meet this re uirement because of the absence of so calle thermal la A form of sprinkler in which my invention ia f u may be embodied is illustrated inthe accom-- pany drawing, in which the figure shows the sprinkler mainly in vertical section[ The sprinkler illustrated comprises a'body portion 2, a yoke 3, screwed at one end'into the bod portion 2, a resilient valveseat 4 clampe between the yoke and body portion and having a central perforation, a valve 5 resting on the valve seat 4 and normally closing the perforation therein, and a .de- Hector 6 carried by the free end of the yoke, all of the parts above mentioned being of familiar and well known construction except as hereinafter described. 'In' addition. the

sprinkler includes a cap-piece 7 shaped like an inverted cup and bearing against the under sideof the yoke at its top, and a frangible vessel 8 made of quartz and interposed between the cap-piece 7 and the valve -5, where it serves as a strut to hold the valve against its seat under normal conditions. The rounded upper end of the vessel 8. is received in the concavity of the cap piece 7 and held in position thereby, the cap-piece itself being centered and held in position by a shallow recess in the yoke in which its rounded upper end rests loosely. The lower end of the vessel 8 is shown as resting on an annular seat provided at the top of the valve 5, which has a recess formed in it to receive the neck of the vessel and protect it from "accidental breakage. I The parts are so proportioned that when they are assembled and the yoke is screwed into the body portion to clamp the valve seat tin place, the latter is flexed slightly by the valve 5 and heldtight- 1y against the valve by its own elasticity which is eventually supplemented by thepressure in the sprinkler pipe system to row zone near one end. The sourceof'heat which the sprinkler is attached; In operation, when the vessel is fractured the cappiece -7 drops out of the yoke and is thrown aside with the valve and the fragments of the vessel, thus leaving a free water way for the discharge from the sprinkler.

The frangible vessel 8 is preferably given a cylindrical form as shown and may be conve'niently made from quartz glass tubing, which is commercially available having a diameter and wall thickness suitable for the vessels themselves. In practice I, take such. a quartz glass tube and apply heat toa nar may be a number of oxy-hy'drogen flames,

and as even, heating is desired it is well to revolve the tube. This is continued 'until thezquartz is softened, and the walls of the tube collapsed toward the center to a considerable extent.

I then slowly draw the short portion away from the main body of the tube, and when the heated zone so drawn is. of a desired diameter and bore to form a neck convenient for filling and sealingI quickly draw it out of the flames and thus separate it. -The neck so formed is of diminishing diameter and terminates in a long thread, which on cooling maybe easily broken off as desired leaving an open end portion for the neck.

The end f the main portion ofthe tube re mains in the flames and without further manipulation closes to form of a vessel.

' When this has beendone, the tube is then fed forward a proper amount to make a vesthe reverse end selof any desired length. On repeating the. heating and drawing process just described,

the portion separated, having one end closed with the other terminating in the desired :neck, is a completed vessel and ready for the introduction of the bursting charge and the sealing of the vessel in the manner, for exj ample, explained and disclosed in either of my patents hereinbefore referred to. The process may be repeated until the entire tube, is used up. While I have shown and described the vessel 8 as cylindrical, it will be understood that the, same may be made of any desired form or shape. I ,While I-have hown my invention as applied to one foim or type of automatic sprinklers, it will be evident that the above described frangible Vessel is adapted for use in various other forms and types of sprinklers. It will also be understood that said frangible vessel and its contents, in 'which the novelty ofmy invention primarily resides, constitutesan article of manufacture which can be used as athermostatic release in-a variety of devices intended to operate at a predetermined temperature,and that other methods for: making the bulb may be employed. :It should further be understood" 7 thatv my present invention is not directed toward methodsof manufacture. I

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An automatic sprinkler comprising, as v a means for normally holding the sprinkler closed, a frangible vessel formed from quartz and containing a bursting charge adapted to fracture the vessel when heated to a predetermined temperature.

2. An automatic sprinkler comprising, as

a means for normally holding' the sprinkler .closed, a frangible vessel formed from transparent quartz and containing a bursting charge adapted to fracture .the vessel when heated to a predeterminedtemperature.

An automatic'sprinkler comprising, as a means for normally holding the sprinkler closed, a frangible. vessel made of quartz and" nearly filled' with carbon tetrachloride.

4. An automatic sprinkler comprising ,a frame, a valve, a separable cap-piece 'POSltioned on the frame, and a quartz vessel interposed between the cap-piece and the valve and seated thereon, said vessel being provided with liquid contents adaptej fractureit when sufiiciently heated-Q dto', l

termined tem erature.

5. An article of manufacture comprisin a frangible vessel formed from quartz an containin a bursting charge adapted to fracture t e vessel when heated" to a prede- 6. An artic e of manufacture comprising a frangible vessel formed from transparent quartz and containing a bursting charge adapted to fracture the vessel when heated to a predetermined temperature.

7. An automatic sprinkler comprisin as a means for normallyrho-lding the sprin ler closed, a frangible vessel, containing a" liquid charge adapted by expansion to-fill and fracture the vessel at a predetermined sprinkler-operating tempegature said -vesselhaving a fused closure and being made' of material having a 'co-efiicient of expansionso near Othat the heatin of part to the temperature 'of fusing w ile the remainder. continues cool, and the coolin of said part, leave the material substantlally free of internal stresses.

'8. An articlerof manufacture comprising a frangible vessel containing a liquid charge adapted by expansicn to fill and to fracture the vessel when heated to' a predetermined temperature; said vessel having a fused closure and being made of material having a co-e'fiicient of expansion so near 0 that the heatin fusing whfi the remainder continues cool, and the cooling of said part, leave the material substantially free of internal stresses.

9. An article of manufacture comprising a frangible vessel containing a bursting charge adapted to fracture the vessel when heated to a predetermined temperature; said-vessel having a fused closure and being made of .material having a cd-effi'cient of expansion soqnear 0 that the heating of part to the temperature of fusing while the remainder continues cool, and-the coolin of" said part,- leave the materialsubstantlally .free of internal stresses;

Signed at Providence, Rhode Island, this fifteenth day OfJanuary, 1925. Y

' ALBERT J. LOEPSINGER.

3a of part to the "temperature of 

